Start Small Newbies should first practice just keeping a houseplant or two alive for a few months, says Eliza Blank, founder of plant delivery site TheSill.com. Try hardy, water-once-a-week varietals such as philodendrons, snake plants, or ZZ plants.

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Get Vertical Graduate to a plant (or "living") wall. These vertical gardens can double as artsy installations and aren't that tough to set up, says Blank. Buy three or more wall-mountable planters with built-in mini water tanks (try Woolly Pocket Living Wall Planter, $27, woollypocket.com). Pot your flora in planters, then mount them—one on top of the other, in a row, however you like!—on a wall directly opposite or close to a window. Blank suggests starting with full, flourishing pothos; their leaves will camouflage the planters and make it look as if the greenery is floating.

Add Oomph For an even bigger setup, large wall-pocket frames can hold dozens of plants in individual cells; the overall trompe l'oeil effect makes it appear as if an entire garden is growing directly out of a wall (try Williams-Sonoma Free Standing Vertical Garden, $400, williams-sonoma.com). Fill the various plant cells with different types of vegetation or edible herbs. Or create a mini forest out of ferns or succulents. Research from NASA suggests that indoor plants remove significant amounts of harmful contaminants from the air.

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